Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Do you want to make common moves harder? One way to do this is to engage your core muscles - abdominal muscles and back muscles. Some gyms have mats that are especially slippery! Do forward and side lunges on these mats. Try some push ups too.

Do you want to make this harder? Grab a ball or other weight with a handle. You will see them at your gym, most likely. Did you ever wonder what their use is? Here is one use. Grab two of these balls with handles, for instance, and do push ups while holding them to the mat. A slippery mat will be harder than a regular mat. You will use intercostal and chest muscle fibers to keep the weights from slipping out from under you. Core muscles will be engaged. This is much harder than regular push ups. Try doing them with one arm if you can.

Be creative and see for yourself what other exercise variations you can do on a slippery mat with or without handle weights.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

3. Take a daily work for at least 20 minutes. Enjoy nature and your neighborhood. Bring a friend along.

4. Join a local athletic group, like the New York Road Runners Club. You do not need to run a marathon right away.

5. Walk, do not drive, to a nearby store.

6. Take up a new hobby like hiking.

7. Dance alone at home or with friends at home or at parties!

8. Try yoga. Start at Level I. Usually instructors do not push new students to do all poses or hold them long.

9. Get off the bus or train and a stop or more early, and walk.

10. Take a vacation that includes sports.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Do you want to win? Do you want to lose weight and beat those fat cells, or that Mom or sister that has always hinted that you are fat or not good enough? Do you want to win stares of people walking into a party? Do you want to be the best coming from a place of being not good enough or resentment from your past? Or is the desire to excel coming from competition with yourself and having integrity with your health because you love yourself?

If you do not accept and love who you are inside and out, you will: 1. Never be in shape; 2. Yo-yo diet; or 3. Be obsessed with dieting and exercising, never letting yourself eat an Oreo.

If you get in shape to look good and to win, you will not have happiness and freedom. All right, we as human beings will always have some of this going on; we will all feel good if we walk in a room and people stare at our cute calves and tight butt. But if you are getting in shape for this, it is coming from lack or insecurity inside. This will not be happiness. And sooner or later other people will pick it up and you will not look so great anyway.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Workand Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

As I have written before, being thin does not equal fit. Many are thin but don't do appropriate weight-bearing exercises to build muscle, or cardiovascular and aerobics for heart and lung health to be healthy. The new Mayo study Normal weight obesity: a risk factor for cardiometabolic dysregulation and cardiovascular mortality by Romero-Corral A, Somers VK, Sierra-Johnson J et al. shows how people who are thin and have low muscle tone, and a big amount of belly fat are not healthy. More than 6000 subjects over 20 years of age were studied. They all had normal BMI measurements (18.5-24.9 kg/m(2). They were evaluated for cardiovascular risk factors, body composition and blood measurements. Subjects were followed for almost nine years. Those with the highest percentage of body fat were labeled “normal weight obese” (NOW). They had normal BMI and measurements of >23.1% body fat in men and >33.3% body fat women. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in subjects with NWO was four times higher than in the normal weight on-obese subjects. Subjects with NWO had higher prevalence of dyslipidaemia, hypertension (men), and CV disease (women), and the women had a twofold higher risk of dying of cardiovascular disease.

Fitness consists of endurance, strength, energy, blood health and flexibility. As I have written under the BMI section, one can have a normal BMI and be overweight or obese. Or they have a high BMI yet be muscular and in shape. They ca also have a low body fat percent but not be fit because they do not do cardiovascular workouts, and they have high blood pressure ad cholesterol. Therefore, more than one fitness test must be employed. A wonderful smart dentist I trained in the summer was probably a size 6 but 39% body fat. That istechnically obese. Here are the links for this section:**http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6146313n&tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea, http://www.ukmedix.com/weight-loss/thin_people_may_be_obese_say_mayo_clinic4578.cfm. Accessed on February 21, 2010.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.

Monday, November 12, 2007

My blog focuses on getting to know yourself through exercise. One wonderful must to incorporate into your fitness program is meditation. Closing your eyes and focusing within can do wonders on a stressful, busy day or any day. Many Europeans take a siesta every day and this allows them to refocus and to stay up at night. Meditation in the morning, middle of the day and evening is a way to increase peace, self-confidence and mental acuity. This will rejuvenate you and give you more energy to exercise. The spirit, mind and body are linked.

When you medicate, you can try to think of nothing, which usually does not happen at all. You can at first think of something that is peaceful for you, like a Nature theme or candle flame. You will be surprised at the peace, grounding and new ideas it will bring. You will be refreshed and empowered.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.